Woman Stabbed Boyfriend Over Alleged Monopoly Cheating

Laura Chavez is shown in this Santa Fe County Jail booking photo. (Santa Fe County Jail)

Laura Chavez, 60, of Santa Fe, N.M., is accused of repeatedly stabbing her boyfriend, Clyde “Butch” Smith, 48, when a family game of Monopoly went terribly awry.

Chavez began to argue with Smith while playing the board game with her 10-year-old grandson. The boy told police that Chavez accused Smith of cheating at Monopoly, and then sent the boy to bed around 11 p.m. mid-argument.

According to a probable cause statement released by police, the couple’s dispute escalated until Chavez hit Smith over the head with a glass bottle, then grabbed a knife and began to cut him on his head, neck, face, arms and hand.

Chavez’s grandson slept through the physical altercation, waking up when police arrived in his bedroom, according to the statement.

Police said Smith was in stable condition at St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he was taken by ambulance after the attack. Doctors told police Smith was “very intoxicated” when he arrived. Police said Chavez’s apartment was covered in blood from the assault.

Chavez was held on a $5,000 bond.

This Monopoly-inspired attack is not the first incident of board game rage. In September, a Florida man allegedly choked his wife over a game of Yahtzee, and in 2009 a Michigan man went to jail for assaulting his Monopoly foe when she would not give up Park Place and the Boardwalk.